The Whole Internet: The Next Generation

Over the past ten years or so, the Internet has seen tremendous change and has had a profound effect on our culture and society. While the first two editions of this book reflected those changes, they are now almost completely outdated. This third edition reflects the latest changes, describing all the brand new Internet technologies.The authors' conversational (and at times gently humorous) style makes reading about all these potentially daunting topics very easy. And at times you become fascinated by all the things you can do on the 'Net, like searching for a long-lost friend, paying your bills online, or buying the latest CD from Steely Dan or the latest Stephen King novel online.There are chapters in this book about using email (and conquering email problems) and net news, protecting your privacy online, a chapter to building your own web page, what to do when you have trouble getting online, and playing online games (and avoiding "lag" and disconnects).I also loved the Resources section near the back of the book, which lists a number of different web sites for various topics. The book also looks to the future and what technologies we can look forward to seeing in the next few years. If you want a good overall view of what the current Internet looks like, this is the book for you. I also recommend the Internet In A Nutshell book.